Here's one in the cooler category. If you're a bottled water oficionado, buy your favorite water. If not, save a few plastic bottles from other drinks (pop, juice, etc). 1 litre or less is best. Fill the latter 3/4 with drinking water (if using bottled water, pour off a couple of ounces and drink it). Put the bottles of water in your freezer with a slightly loosened cap. When frozen solid, take out, tighten the lid, and put in your cooler. For a day or two you will have lovely ice-cold water to drink, and it will keep your food cold. This is great for weekender trips.

For 5 yrs. I drove from NC to AZ every 6 mos for my job. I purchased a Manifold cook book 2 men wrote it's terrific. I have tried it and it works great. Actually I stopped and ate the local fair in every state. But I did make Shrimp Scampi on the manifold. Very much fun.

I've heard of manifold cooking, but never tried it... I used to road trip a lot with college buddies and this was the list of our staples: 3-4 boxes frosted mini-wheats (to this day I can't go on a road trip without them), a couple pounds of swedish fish, beef jerky, 1-2 boxes saltine crackers, and anything canned from my parents storage that we could get away with (peaches, pears, chili, etc...). Personally I've never really had a hard time packing clothes, I think I'm a minimalist in that area, I'm always a little short-handed rather than found in abundance! I would rather find a laundromat and throw in a load than bring extra!

We used to drive to Florida a lot. We always had sandwiches and our favorite snacks. Nuts are great, and pringles are too since they have a lid. I also recommend soda in a plastic bottle, not a can. We pack this for plane rides too, no matter how short or long the distance. It really helps because when I'm hungry, I need to eat ASAP, and not eating meat really limits the options. Plus, this way I don't feel sick after I eat, because I know the food is fresh.

I love road trips! I don't drive, but I'm a great passenger, and you can count on me to have what you want/need in my milk crate, tote bag or cooler.
I always make a bag up with prescription meds, tums, pepto bismol, and aspirin. In the milk crate go wet washcoths in a ziplock bag, paper towels, kleenex, snack crackers, squirt cheese, cookies and fruit.
I fill the cooler with bottled water, sodas, beer, a jug of milk, another of iced tea, and sandwiches in small ziplocks, then packed together in a big ziplock.

We allow ourselves one restaurant meal per day, and part of the fun is finding cool places to eat...like "Vince's" in central Illinois, an inconspicous little place that had wonderful gourmet food, including Shrimp Wellington that melted in your mouth...a little truckstop in Knoxville, Tennessee where a plump, rosy cheeked cook made biscuits that floated off your plate..."King Frog" in southern Georgia, where we were served plates piled high with tender, crispy frogs legs...and one of the best, an open-air bar on the beach of Anna Maria Island that served pitchers of beer with plastic bags of ice in them to keep the beer cold, and had fabulous fried grouper sandwiches, fresh shucked oysters and the like.

When it comes to clothing, I do always take too much, but I don't consider doing laundry part of my vacation. One must also take into account the possibility of weather changes. On two of our trips to Florida, we encountered unseasonable cold snaps, and I was really glad I'd included jackets and long pants. I use basically the same method as Claire. I roll up the t-shirts, and put socks or belts inside the shoes. I also make up an "overnight bag" with a change of clothes and necessities for everyone, so we don't have to drag in all the luggage for an overnight stay.

We take a portable refrigerator with us on trips. It great for fruit, snacks, pop, water candy. It is also great for restaurant leftovers. You don't need ice because it runs on the car battery or on electric when you get to a hotel. It is great to have a snack at night in the room or finish eating your leftovers. There is only one problem. You have to connect the power cord properly because it can also be used to keep food warm. We once had melted cheese and chocolate and warm fruit because my husband plugged it in wrong.
We save money on food and can also buy produce to take home from our trip.

One favorite when I was a kid was Mom would buy huge loaves of "French" bread and make subs. There would be all sorts of stuff on them that we didn't get in our lunch boxes -- exotic cheeses and meats as opposed to bologna and American. Even when we were at theme parks (I was at Disneyland in '59 and Disneyworld in '75, so when I say I don't care much to go to theme parks, you know I've done it all) we would go back out to the station wagon and eat these spectacular sandwiches, accompanied by big thermos jugs of kool-aid. To this day when I'm visiting my parents, the thing we do is go out and get huge loaves of french bread and make hoagies. Yummm yuummm. But the main thing is that they travel so well.